Network error strikes Graton Resort and Casino

In California, hundreds of successful video poker and slot players at the Graton Resort and Casino were reportedly required to wait for up to four hours on Friday night to claim their prizes after a network error caused the venue’s machines to cease automatically printing out payout slips.

According to a Saturday report from The Press Democrat newspaper, players inside the Sonoma County casino began experiencing difficulties in collecting their winnings from 9pm on September 15 while the glitch subsequently saw staff required to hand-deliver payouts.

Owned by the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and operated by Las Vegas-based Station Casinos, the Graton Resort and Casino is located just north of the city of Rohnert Park and offers some 3,000 video poker and slot machines. Although the problem was subsequently remedied overnight, the newspaper reported that some players had left their winnings after growing tired of waiting.

“I gave up [and] I left my money to someone else,” player Mike Ireton reportedly told The Press Democrat.

The 49-year-old Santa Rosa resident owns a local high-speed Internet service company and reportedly called it a day on his winnings of just over $101 after waiting nearly three hours with no success.

“It was practically everybody,” Ireton reportedly told the newspaper before estimating that the incident had impacted up to 1,000 other players. “There were people sitting there waiting for $5. It wasn’t very systematic. They should have had a better response.”

Lori Nelson, a spokesperson for Station Casinos, reportedly told The Press Democrat that she did not know what had caused the incident or how many people had been required to wait for an employee to pay them out.

“Although it may have taken more time than usual for the payout, we were pleased that we were able to institute a manual payout,” Nelson reportedly told the newspaper. “We do apologize for the inconvenience to our guests.”

Nelson purportedly explained that guests had been able to continue playing games throughout the incident while patrons that abandoned their machines may still be able to claim their winnings simply by contacting the Graton Resort and Casino via its website.

“While we have not been contacted by any guests who chose not to wait for one of our team members to manually pay them out, we certainly encourage any guest who did to contact us via our website submission option as we’ll be able verify through their player’s card and assist them,” Nelson reportedly told The Press Democrat.